I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In: Whouffle
by TakingItOutOnTheWall
Summary: Clara insists that the Doctor should decorate the TARDIS for Christmas and this is what happens. Christmas Whouffle fluff.


**Merry Christmas! :) I wrote this as a Christmas present for my friend Flo and when coming up with ideas was inspired by the song I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In to write three fics for three different ships from three different fandoms. I uploaded one yesterday and meant to upload the other two then but I couldn't login. The third will be up in a minute. The three fics are entirely unrelated except that they are all Christmasy so you can read any of them and in any order. Or you could just read this one. It doesn't matter. Anyway, hope you had a great Christmas and a have a very happy New Year and I hope you enjoy the story.**

**PS I'm also writing a multichapter fic for Sherlock which is what I should really be working on and although I haven't updated in a while I do intend to do that very soon so feel free to check that out.**

**When reading this story you should just imagine the Christmas special never happened so this is still the eleventh doctor.**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Doctor Who.**

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"So, where to today, Chin Boy?" Clara asked cheekily, walking towards the TARDIS console. The Doctor frowned at the name.  
"There's nothing wrong with my chin." He protested.

_No, there isn't._ Clara thought, smiling at him mischievously. _I like your chin. And the rest of you too._

Clara had tried very hard not to fancy the Doctor, after all he was an alien with two hearts and that was before you even got to thinking about the age gap, but how could she not. He had leapt into her life and shown her the stars. He had given her the opportunity to travel as she had always wanted to. Of course she'd never imagined that she would really be able to travel in all of time and space rather than simply around the world but that was just an added bonus. He wasn't exactly bad looking either which obviously hadn't helped her case. Clara refused to admit it but her feelings for the madman went far beyond being merely platonic.

"So where are we going?" Clara repeated the question.  
"Where do you want to go?"

Clara considered the question. "I don't know. Preferably somewhere safe. I'd like to be home for Christmas tomorrow."  
"Oh, is it Christmas?" The Doctor asked.  
"Yes. Didn't you realise that?"  
"I hadn't thought about it."  
"Hmm... You should decorate the TARDIS." Clara commented, looking around and already planning the festive decor.  
"Why?" The Doctor replied. "It's perfectly fine the way it is."  
"It's nearly Christmas."  
"We're in a time machine! It doesn't have to be Christmas!" The Doctor argued, then added stubbornly. "Besides, I hate Christmas."

Clara raised an eyebrow at him. She didn't believe that for one second. The Doctor was probably the universe's oldest five-year-old and she'd definitely found something resembling a Christmas list in his pocket last week. There was no way that he hated Christmas.

"You asked me where I wanted to go." Clara stated.  
"Yes."  
"I want to go and get a Christmas tree."

The Doctor had a look of confusion on his face which Clara secretly found adorable. "It's Christmas Eve. Don't you already have a Christmas tree?"  
"Not for me, silly. For the TARDIS."  
"I don't need a Christmas tree!"  
"Yes you do." Clara argued back. She knew it wouldn't take much to persuade him.

The Doctor sighed quietly to himself before finally answering her. "You're not going to give up until I agree, are you?"

Clara grinned back at him. "Not a chance."  
"Fine then. We'll get a tree."  
"I knew you'd come round eventually." Clara said happily. "Now then Mr Time Traveller, where in the universe do you find the best Christmas trees?"

**xXx**

He should never have let Clara persuade him to do this. Never. How had she even managed it? Oh yes, that's it. She smiled her pretty smile at him and he couldn't say no to her.

"What about this one?" Clara asked, gesturing towards a tree.  
"No! No! No!" The Doctor cried out. "That's much too short!"  
"Short! It's taller than me."  
"You're short."  
"Oi!" Clara exclaimed. "You don't have to be rude about it."  
"I wasn't being rude!" The Doctor denied. "I was only stating a fact."

Clara pouted at him, putting on a pretence of being seriously offended. "I thought you didn't want a tree. Now you're all fussy about it." She complained.  
"Well if I'm going to have a Christmas tree then it has to be a good one."  
"Right. Is this one any better?" Clara questioned, nodding at a substantially taller tree.

The Doctor walked up to the tree and inspected it carefully, walking round it a few times to check it. He was concentrating so hard on examining the tree that he didn't notice what Clara was doing until something cold and white hit him in the face.

"Hey!" The Doctor yelped in surprise. "Not fair! I wasn't expecting that!"  
"That's the point." Clara giggled. "You weren't supposed to be expecting it." She moved to stand in front of the Doctor and reached up to gently brush the snow of his face, her gaze soft.

"So what do you think of the tree?" Clara's question was unexpected and jolted the Doctor out of the thoughts he definitely should not have been having about his companion.

"Umm... The tree! Yes! That's why we're here." The time lord answered awkwardly. He gave the tree another once over then turned to grin at Clara. "It's perfect! This is the one."

Clara smiled at his childlike enthusiasm. "I knew you didn't hate Christmas. Come on, let's get it back to the snogbox."

Clara's wording made the Doctor blush. The Doctor always had a problem with trying not to get flustered when Clara called the TARDIS a snogbox. He would tell himself that it was just because he was embarrassed by her accusations but part of him couldn't help but wish that his blue box could live up to the name she'd given it. _No! That's not good._ He thought to himself quickly. _I can't fancy Clara. It would never work. I'm a 1200 year old time lord and she's just a 25 year old human._ So he pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind and tried not to notice how pretty Clara was. Failing miserably, of course.

**xXx**

"Doctor! You can't have bowties on the Christmas tree!" Clara said exasperatedly.  
"Why not? Bowties are cool!" The Doctor defended.

Clara sighed, shaking her head at the time lord's continuous insistence that bowties were cool. The problem was that Clara had actually started to like them too. Although she disagreed with the Doctor on what things were actually cool, Clara had now come to associate those things with the Doctor. So, even though there was no way that bowties and fezzes were cool, they reminded her of the time lord and she had become extremely fond of them. Her arguments against them had become more a habit than something she actually felt strongly about. But she couldn't tell the Doctor that she liked them because of him. So she just groaned at his decoration choice and continued to let the Doctor hang miniature bowties, fezzes, Stetsons and various other questionable decorations on the tree along with the regular baubles, wondering where in the universe he had managed to find the peculiar choice of decorations.

Clara had been decorating the rest of the TARDIS control room whilst the Doctor had started on the tree. She hadn't done much, just wound some tinsel round the railings and hung baubles from them but she was quite pleased with her handiwork.

"Doctor!" She called over her shoulder. "What do you think?"

The time lord turned to look at what his companion had done and surveyed it with a huge grin plastered to his face.

"Clara that's brilliant!" The Doctor cried, kissing her forehead and making her blush. Clara was sure that was much more enthusiasm than she deserved but she wasn't going to complain if it meant the Doctor kissing her. Even if it was just on the forehead.

"Shall I help with the tree then?" Clara asked, pulling back from the Doctor before she did something stupid like admit that she was falling for him.  
"Yes, yes." The Doctor grabbed her hand and turned them round to look at the tree. "It's just the top of the tree left to decorate now."

The Christmas tree they'd found was quite a tall tree. Tall enough that the Doctor couldn't even reach the top so apart from lights and tinsel it was undecorated.

"I'll have to stand on something if I'm going to help." Clara commented. "If you can't reach then I definitely won't be able to."

"Yes." The Doctor agreed. "I was just about to go and find something."

Which was how the two of them came to be standing on rather unstable chairs trying to hang decorations on the tree.

"I think we're finished." The Doctor announced finally, leaping off his chair to study the tree. "We don't have any more decorations left."  
"I have one." Clara corrected, wagging one more brightly coloured bauble at him. "I just have to find a space to put it."

Spotting a free branch a further round the tree, Clara leaned over to hang the decoration on the tree and immediately realised it was a bad idea. The chair was too unsteady and lost her balance, feeling herself starting to fall. The Doctor, who was standing beside her, reached out to grab her but the momentum sent them both to the ground and they fell together, landing with Clara on top, pinning the Doctor to the ground.

"You're heavier than you look." The Doctor commented rudely from below Clara, earning himself a shove from his companion but he quickly stopped himself from saying anything else when Clara glared at him.

It was only then that Clara realised how close their faces were. And it would seem that the Doctor had noticed too. He was blushing slightly and Clara couldn't help thinking how cute it was. Before she knew what she was doing Clara had leant down and she was kissing the Doctor. And he was kissing back. In fact he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it. Clara broke the kiss, smiling down at the Doctor who seemed to regain his senses very quickly.

"You kissed me!" The time lord exclaimed, accusingly.  
"You enjoyed it." Clara replied, grinning at him. "Looks like the snogbox is finally living up to its title."

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**Like it? Hate it? Please review and let me know :)**


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